"Sending Power through Hands" and Cult Religion?

[kei17]

One day I was watching DBZ movies and noticed that there were many "sending power through hands" scenes in them. The original manga also has this kind of scenes like Krillin and Gohan sending their power to Piccolo during the fight between Goku and Freeza. The Genkidama during the Buu fight is formed by genki sent by people raising their hands, too. However, in such instances, Piccolo gains only little power and the formation of the Genkidama can be explained by a "small is the seed of every greatness" logic.




Then, when it comes to movies, this idea seems to work a little differently. Goku suddenly gets stronger than overwhelmingly powerful villains with the energies sent by already beaten, weakened people, and he defeats them. Or, he magically heals a bird by touching it. Aside from the case in movie 5, it doesn't really make sense that he can get greatly stronger by it. I thought that it's just a result of the scriptwriter's poor writing, but one thing crossed my mind. Takao Koyama, the scriptwriter for all the old DBZ movies, is known as an enthusiastic believer in Sūkyō Mahikari since 1977.

Movie 4:


Movie 5:


Movie 8:



Sūkyō Mahikari is a Japanese cult religion originated from Ōmoto, which also is a new religion. In short, the believers in Mahikari believe that they can cleanse "unhappy phenomena" in this world (diseases, family rifts, worldwide issues) by sending their healing/cleaning energies (Mahikari no waza, True Light) from their hands. Here's some images from the order's official website:





Maybe the "defeating a much stronger enemy only with the power sent from the hands of a few weaker people" sort of idea sounded a lot more plausible to Koyama himself, and it's not really a sloppy story telling for him. This might just be a stretch, but things make more sense with this in mind, don't they?

[LordCrumb]

I always thought it was just a Japanese energy belief thing. What better way to send your energy to someone than through your hands.

Didn't think of Religion at all.

[Retan]

Great now someones going to be running around sharing there energy with everyone.... Thanks Kei17!!!

[Kendamu]

Well, thoughts and intentions can alter the physical world around us. Maybe their viewpoint takes the idea to a degree much further than I would believe without evidence, but there is some truth to it. In any case, it's a really interesting fact!

Thanks for sharing! It definitely was better than the "Is DBZ linked to Satanic Rituals?!?!" stuff that I was expecting when I clicked on this thread.

[Cipher]

I was ready to roll my eyes at this thread until I saw the author. This was very interesting! Thank you. Makes a bit of sense that his beliefs (which already played off established phenomena in the series) would have influenced the climaxes in his scripts.

Also, that picture of the woman sending her energies into a tray of vegetables is the best. Glad I learned about this.

[Luso Saiyan]

It's Qi/Chi, and it does exist.

[Fizzer]

Well, thoughts and intentions can alter the physical world around us. Maybe their viewpoint takes the idea to a degree much further than I would believe without evidence, but there is some truth to it. In any case, it's a really interesting fact!

Thanks for sharing! It definitely was better than the "Is DBZ linked to Satanic Rituals?!?!" stuff that I was expecting when I clicked on this thread.

Well that's an interesting read and all, but are there any peer-reviewed scientific papers on this?

[Kendamu]

Well, thoughts and intentions can alter the physical world around us. Maybe their viewpoint takes the idea to a degree much further than I would believe without evidence, but there is some truth to it. In any case, it's a really interesting fact!

Thanks for sharing! It definitely was better than the "Is DBZ linked to Satanic Rituals?!?!" stuff that I was expecting when I clicked on this thread.

Well that's an interesting read and all, but are there any peer-reviewed scientific papers on this?

The sources are at the bottom if you wanna read into the double-blind study more.

[DaemonCorps]

Wow, that's pretty trippy. At least it makes for some decent entertainment without coming off as... "propaganda-y?"

[RocktheDragon]

Well, thoughts and intentions can alter the physical world around us. Maybe their viewpoint takes the idea to a degree much further than I would believe without evidence, but there is some truth to it. In any case, it's a really interesting fact!

Thanks for sharing! It definitely was better than the "Is DBZ linked to Satanic Rituals?!?!" stuff that I was expecting when I clicked on this thread.

Well that's an interesting read and all, but are there any peer-reviewed scientific papers on this?

The sources are at the bottom if you wanna read into the double-blind study more.

Not to be a wet blanket or anything (or even veer too off topic) but the main researcher on the research paper that is cited in that article is Dean Radin.

From Wikipedia:

"Chris French criticized Radin for his selective historical overview of parapsychology and ignoring evidence of fraud. Radin failed to mention that the medium Florence Cook was caught in acts of trickery and the Fox sisters publicly confessed their spirit communications were fraudulent.] Radin has written the results from psi research are as consistent by the same standards as any other scientific discipline but according to Ray Hyman many parapsychologists disagree with that opinion and openly admit the evidence for psi is "inconsistent, irreproducible, and fails to meet acceptable scientific standards". Scientists have rejected Radin's paranormal claims. They suggest that he has embraced pseudoscience and that he misunderstands the nature of science."

Anyways, to get back on topic I found these insights very cool to hear about! I'm sure his background did influence some of the plot points for many of the movies and I'm glad you made a thread about it OP. Great stuff.

[Landcross]

It's part of many religions, I'm pretty sure. I know a Catholic priest who does the whole "laying hands on the sick" thing to give them positive energy.

[Retan]

Usually that's for the Holy Ghost! to flow through them and heal them, a little different but nice try!! Might be wrong though I am a Christian, but not Catholic.

[Rocketman]

The human hands are our primary method of manipulating the world, to the point that the word "manipulate" comes from "manus", "hand".

It makes sense that any mystical woowoo like that would involve the hands.

Well, thoughts and intentions can alter the physical world around us.

No they certainly can not. Please never post this again, you are spreading harmful bullshit.

[MarcFBR]

No they certainly can not. Please never post this again, you are spreading harmful bullshit.

Great post.

But how do you explain this Rocketman? https://lh3.ggpht.com/-L9iLeODIDV8/Tq1Y ... Bhomer.JPG

How do you explain that?

[Kid Buu]

Off topic but I'm curious, what episode is that Simpsons picture from?

[MarcFBR]

Off topic but I'm curious, what episode is that Simpsons picture from?

Treehouse of Horror 2

[Fizzer]

Not to be a wet blanket or anything (or even veer too off topic) but the main researcher on the research paper that is cited in that article is Dean Radin.

From Wikipedia:

"Chris French criticized Radin for his selective historical overview of parapsychology and ignoring evidence of fraud. Radin failed to mention that the medium Florence Cook was caught in acts of trickery and the Fox sisters publicly confessed their spirit communications were fraudulent.] Radin has written the results from psi research are as consistent by the same standards as any other scientific discipline but according to Ray Hyman many parapsychologists disagree with that opinion and openly admit the evidence for psi is "inconsistent, irreproducible, and fails to meet acceptable scientific standards". Scientists have rejected Radin's paranormal claims. They suggest that he has embraced pseudoscience and that he misunderstands the nature of science."

Well, while the paper itself does show better scientific comprehension than the article linked, it doesn't appear to have ever been published in a reputable journal, and it does still clash messily with the established framework of scientific understanding; if this is true, then we need to overhaul all of physics and neuroscience.

On the original topic, transferring energy through the hands just seemed completely natural to me. I grew up with DBZ, so I would question it less, but being exposed to other things where "magic" and whatnot were done through the hands, I think I just considered it normal.

[Gokuden]

I thought of this today, real creepy that there is a thread on this subject right now... Yeah, I was thing of something 'occult', and I only call it that because... Who knows, maybe I haven't tapped into its power yet. But what I can tell everyone in this thread is... GIVE ME YOUR POSITIVE ENERGY. Thanks.

Love,

Gokuden.

Seriously, this could be a good opener if you're still single.

[Polyphase Avatron]

This thread reminded me of that video with the kid talking about how a Chinese man set a piece of paper on fire with his hands. Anyone remember that?

[DerekPadula]

Kei is right to recognize it as a common phenomenon, and it's all rooted in traditional East Asian concepts of spiritual cultivation based on Buddho-Daoist concepts. Mind is matter, matter is mind.

I realize this doesn't help anybody at the moment, but I'll be talking about this phenomenon in great detail in my upcoming books in The Dao of Dragon Ball series.

Thanks for the news tip about the script writer!